“…Fish management crews captured two of them this fall during Ohio River electrofishing bass surveys, signaling their return to the state.
“Who dis? Believe it or not, it’s a longhead darter,” wildlife officials wrote in a social media post. “Why are we so excited? This striking creature, native to Ohio, was thought to be extirpated from the state.”
Extirpated is a term that refers to species that are locally extinct but not gone completely from the planet.
Little information is known about the life of the longhead darter.
Biologists believe this darter spawns in the spring between March and May, and adult longheads eat crayfish and mayflies.
Reaching 4.5-5 inches in length, the longhead darter is a small to medium-sized fish. It has a long, narrow head and snout with a groove (called a frenum) separating the tip of the upper lip from the snout.
Like most darter species, the longhead darter is quite colorful. Its back is bright olive-yellow and there is a series of more than 12 somewhat square blotches along the back.”
View the whole story here: https://www.wlwt.com/article/fish-species-believed-locally-extinct-rediscovered-in-ohio-waters/38734443